2017 Year In Review

January brought our final Christmas party and of course matching Christmas Jammies!

February a trip to Bemidji.

March was hockey jamboree- 7 games and 1 missing thumb nail later the hockey season was over.

In April Adam had his First Eucharist:

May we took an epic camping vacation to see 7 national parks. It meant going back to Utah and sharing with my family two of my favorite national parks- Brice and Zion!

 June we celebrated Isaac's 3rd birthday- Camp Isaac. And yes it did rain so we didn't get to enjoy our awesome yard as much as I had hoped.

 July we spent some time at the cabin and a wonderful stay-cation with my side of the family at our lake home.

 August brought more time at the cabin- this time both sets of grandparents came so it was extra special with lots of fishing!

We also went to Shanty Days in Kenosha which meant rock throwing into Lake Michigan for all the cousins.

 In the end of September Louie and his family came to visit!

October was probably one of the best fishing months at our house. We didn't travel anywhere for MEA weekend and instead stayed home and just let the boys fish. The only time they'd stop is if they ran out of bait or it got dark. 

November is always a light month for picture taking. December- we finished out 2017 the same way we brought it in- time with cousins and Christmas Jammies!

Welcome Home to Menomonie

Dave and I went to Chicago and Kenosha to visit family for Easter. It also happened to be the weekend of Louie's 1st birthday. On the way there Dave and I noticed the 3M plant in Menomonie and both thought wouldn't it be nice if our trip had started from here (because at that point we were almost 3 hours into the drive with rush hour traffic).

Matt and Shar and Elliott went with us to Louie's 1st birthday party and Dave's parents were in Kenosha for the party too. We all were sitting around Ann's living room and I casually threw out the idea of us moving to Menomonie Wisconsin and the faces light up like a Christmas tree or a fourth of July fireworks show. Bob said- you guys would seriously consider moving there? Shar was excited about us being east of the Twin Cities.

So on the drive home we talked and talked some more. And the next day Dave and I both started to look for jobs in Menomonie. Within a week or two Dave paged me at the end of the day at work to tell me that there was a product engineering roll opening in Menomonie. I was out on the production floor as I answered the page and saw my current boss walk into the transition room. I hung up with Dave and told my boss that I would be applying for a job in Menomonie that night. A couple weeks later I had my interview and after Memorial Day I got the official offer.

We spent most of the summer looking for a new home, getting our house ready to sell. It took us several house finding trips, but we found our home and had an offer accepted mid July. I wrapped up my job in Hutchinson in July and started in Menomonie in August. Our belongings were packed up the last week of August and delivered in Menomonie the day after labor day- which was also the boys first day of school for the boys. The following day Dave started his job in Menomonie.

It was a crazy summer but we are so happy to be here- closer to family. Now does anyone want to buy our beautiful lake home in Hutch? It’s still on the market- 2019 is our year though I know it!